Category: Harlemscape
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Jamel Shabazz Photography
Make sure to get up to the Bronx Museum to see the fantastic photography show of Jamel Shabazz’s work (1980-2020). https://www.bronxmuseum.org/exhibitions/jamel-shabazz-eyes-on-the-street Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of fifteen, he picked up his first camera and started to document his peers. Inspired by photographers Leonard Freed, James Van…
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Family Activities on West 120th Street, Today
All Saints > Capital Prep Last winter I snapped a picture of the Gothic script that made the 130th Street entrance to the former All Saints Elementary School #52 so charming. The gilt letters, hidden behind a protective mesh still glowed. This week I noticed that Capital Prep – the charter school that will occupy…
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CUNY’s East Harlem Restaurant Guide
CUNY has come up with a somewhat pedantic restaurant guide for East Harlem. They’ve covered most of the bases, but oddly have some restaurants that haven’t been open for 2 years now and others are located firmly in Central Harlem. It seems surprising that they didn’t check whether or not the restaurants were still in…
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Harlem Flats (Back Lot Laundry)
In 2011 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens (outside LA) acquired the “Harlem Flats (Back Lot Laundry),” an important early painting made in 1907 by Ernest Lawson, one of a group of Ashcan school artists called The Eight. “Harlem Flats” was purchased for The Huntington by Kelvin Davis. Notice that the boys are…
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Affordable Housing
The conversation surrounding affordable housing so often focuses on the distorted nature of New York City’s AMI calculations, what percentage of a given project will be affordable, and what an affordable rent really is. Much less common is a conversation with the developers who build affordable housing. The Commercial Observer has a great interview with…
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Sugar Ray’s
eBay has a great postcard for sale, a promotional item for Sugar Ray’s Cafe (7th Avenue and 124th Street) . The interior shots show a well-stocked bar, sports paraphernalia, and a dapper manager ready to welcome you. To see the listing, click here. The East Harlem African Burial Ground Development May Be Back On Patch’s…
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Playstreets: Summer of 1968
The city’s Parks Department opened a new photography exhibition at Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery that displays more than 40 archived photographs from the department’s collection. Called “Streets In Play: Katrina Thomas, NYC Summer 1968,” the exhibit features images taken by the late photographer Katrina Thomas, who in 1968 was hired by NYC Mayor John Lindsay and tasked with capturing the city’s summer initiative, “Playstreets,” in which…
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Save the Date!
On September 13th (Tuesday) at 6:00, we’ll gather at East 129th Street and 5th Avenue (south-east corner) to celebrate the unveiling of Ann Petry Place. The acclaimed African-American author, Ann Petry, lived at 2 East 129th Street when she engaged in much of her activist writing for African American newspapers such as The Amsterdam News…
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Don’t Want Guns In Our Community?
Celebrate Alternate Side Parking Who knew? While everyone, even disgruntled drivers, acknowledges that the return to twice a week alternate side parking reduces the trash on our streets, reduces the rat population, and adds to community pride, who knew that it also impacts the presence of guns in our community? While alternate side parking may…
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Lincoln Jail For Women Opposed By Angela Davis
Patch.com is reporting that plans to revive Lincoln Jail (on 110th Street between 5th and Lenox) a women’s “trauma informed” jail has run into opposition from local and national activists. Most prominent among them is, perhaps, Angela Davis, who has signed a letter opposing the creation of a Lincoln Jail for Women as have hundreds…
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Black Nuns
The West 124th Street home of The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, one of three orders of mostly black nuns in the country, still partly remains – despite partial demolition. The Handmaids are now over 100 years old, and had occupied this partly demolished site since 1944 before selling it 5 years…
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Harlem Renaissance Banner 2.0
The Gatekeepers Collective (TGC), with West Harlem Development Corp and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council are launching HARLEM RENAISSANCE 2.0, honoring the Centennial of the Harlem Renaissance and SGLBTQ (same gender loving (SGL), gay, lesbian, bisexual, Transgender, Queer) S/Heroes: a public art and performance initiative including a series of Banners along West 125thSt. celebrating SGLBTQ…
